152 The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 2 in wellness due to gender and race/ethnicity; however, individual elements of the wellness model were significant. One study has shown that male BIPOC counseling students report higher levels of exhaustion compared to female BIPOC counseling students (Basma et al., 2021). Secondary Traumatic Stress As students continue to experience traumatic events happening in and outside of school, PSCs are often immersed in the traumatic experiences of their students. This consistent exposure could have an impact on school counselors professionally. Indirect exposure to trauma stemming from students’ trauma, witnessing others’ trauma, or being exposed to graphic material is considered secondary exposure (Fye, Cook, et al., 2020; Padmanabhanunni, 2020). When PSCs attend to student trauma and become fixated, overwhelmed, or burdened, they can experience burnout and secondary traumatic stress (Rumsey et al., 2020). Yet, similar to Fye, Cook, et al.’s (2020) study on burnout, Rumsey et al. (2020) found that years of school counseling experience is negatively correlated with secondary exposure and secondary traumatic stress. School counselors with more years of experience are less likely to be affected by secondary traumatic stress (Rumsey et al., 2020). As PSCs are often the first point of contact regarding PK–12 students’ mental health in the aftermath of a traumatic event, additional research is needed regarding PSCs’ experiences of secondary traumatic stress. Presently, there is a gap in the literature regarding how demographic factors and PSCs’ own ACEs scores predict positive and negative job-related outcomes; therefore, it would be advantageous to learn how ACEs and demographic factors, such as gender, race, or SES, might influence compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Compassion Satisfaction Since the original ACEs study, researchers have turned toward identifying protective factors that may mitigate the effects of harmful childhood experiences. Firstly, compassion satisfaction, while studied limitedly, may serve as a protective factor against burnout and secondary traumatic stress (Stamm, 2010). Compassion satisfaction is defined as a psychological benefit derived from working effectively with clients/students to produce meaningful and positive change in their lives (Stamm, 2010). Researchers note the dearth of literature surrounding gender, race/ethnicity, and PSC wellness, as well as systemic gender and race/ethnicity-related barriers to wellness that exist for PSCs (Bryant & Constantine, 2006; Fye et al., 2022). Currently, the relationship between burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction in PSCs with ACEs is unclear. Brown et al. (2022) conducted a study on ACEs, positive childhood experiences (PCEs), and compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress with a diverse national sample of 140 clinical mental health counselors (CMHCs). They found that 43% of participants had four or more ACEs and over 70% had five or more PCEs (Brown et al., 2022). Results from this study found that higher ACEs scores predicted lower compassion satisfaction, but racially minoritized CMHCs, those coming from lower childhood SES, and female CMHCs had higher rates of compassion satisfaction as compared to CMHCs who identified as White, coming from middle- or upper-class SES backgrounds, or male. Furthermore, higher ACEs scores predicted higher rates of burnout, and higher PCEs predicted less burnout (Brown et al., 2022). The relationship between PSCs’ own identity factors (e.g., gender, race/ ethnicity, and childhood SES) and childhood experiences on job-related outcomes (e.g., compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress) remains unstudied. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of early childhood experiences on the professional quality of life of PSCs. We focused on the rates of ACEs and demographic variables of PSCs and their relationship to burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction. We aimed to answer the following research questions (RQs): 1) What are the mean rates of ACEs, compassion
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